Three dead from incurable 'MOUTH-BLEEDING' virus as fears spread of dozens more cases

A BRUTAL disease spread by rats that causes victims' mouths to bleed has killed three people.

Published 16th January 2018

Lassa fever, which kills 5,000 a year, has broken out in Nigeria.

Two
doctors and a nurse have died and one more is still in hospital, as
health officials have warned that the disease is spreading fast.

Lassa
fever is a viral disease similar to the feared Black Death that is
caused by coming into contact with food or household items contaminated
with rat urine or faeces.

It can also be spread between humans through contact with infected body fluids.

Symptoms include a fever, facial swelling, and muscle fatigue, as well as bleeding from the mouth.

It accounts for up to one-third of deaths in hospitals with Lassa fever cases.

The Ebonyi State government's health commissioner Dr Daniel Umezurike said that 12 samples had been taken of possible cases.

All of the victims worked at the Federal Teaching Hospital in Abakaliki, 330 miles east of the country's largest city Lagos.

The head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
(NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said that the country's Ministry of Health
was working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to coordinate a
response to the deadly disease.

He said: "The NCDC has provided urgently required medical supplies and drugs to support case management in the state."

He
went on: "Health care workers in health facilities are particularly at
risk of contracting the disease, especially where infection prevention
and control procedures are not strictly adhered to."

There
is currently no vaccine for Lassa fever, but locals have been warned to
take all possible steps to stop rats from entering their house or
getting into food supplies.

Health official Dr Uche Unigwe said that the disease has spread, and there are now more than 20 reported cases in the country.

The number of Lassa virus infections per year in west Africa is estimated at 100,000 to 300,000, with approximately 5,000 deaths. Unfortunately, such estimates are crude, because surveillance for cases of the disease is not uniformly performed. In some areas of Sierra Leone and Liberia, it is known that 10%-16% of people admitted to hospitals every year have Lassa fever, which indicates the serious impact of the disease on the population of this region.

The confirmation comes after just two weeks ago the Ugandan Health Ministry denied there was an outbreak.

Positive tests for CCHF came from samples taken from a 9-year-old paitent Kihwoko Hospital.

Experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) have already said they were monitoring for an outbreak after reports in South Sudan.

CCHF is spread to humans via tick bites or contact with raw meat and infected animal blood immediately after slaughter.

"CCHF outbreaks constitute a threat to public health services because of its epidemic potential, its high case fatality ratio (10-40%), its potential for nosocomial outbreaks and the difficulties in treatment and prevention,” WHO’s description of the virus reads.

WHO first raised fears of a VHF outbreak in central Africa with a report of a number of deaths in South Sudan.

A pregnant woman, and two teenagers all succumbed to a mystery infection along with a number of animals.

However, it is not confirmed whether these deaths are also from CCHF or a separate similar strain of VHF.

Outbreak in the nation could be catastrophic – with South Sudan bordered by Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, the Congo and the Central African Republic.

There were fears up to 60 people could be infected, and are each undergoing analysis by a team from the Sudanese health ministry and WHO.

In a recent report, WHO wrote: "The outbreak of suspected viral haemorrhagic fever in South Sudan could rapidly evolve, and critical information including laboratory confirmation of the etiology of disease is needed to direct response efforts.

"Strengthened surveillance in affected human and animal populations is needed to facilitate rapid detection of human and animal cases and response.

“Strengthened capacity to clinically manage any new cases is also needed in the affected area.”

As humans penetrate deeper and deeper into, what was once uninhabited darkest jungles,all over Africa ,and South America,the potential risk to a very very Nasty virus finding its way into the general populace,,increases expotentaly,,never mind the risk of one coming from the expected place, i.e. Asia.....

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot create polls in this forumYou can vote in polls in this forum